Which attack is associated with VLAN exploits?

VLAN hopping is the correct choice when discussing attacks associated with VLAN exploits. This type of attack occurs when a malicious user gains the ability to communicate with devices on different VLANs without proper authorization. Typically, VLANs are used to segregate network traffic for security purposes. However, vulnerabilities in network configurations can allow attackers to bypass these separations and access sensitive data across VLAN boundaries.

VLAN hopping frequently exploits configuration weaknesses such as trunking protocols. For instance, if an attacker can gain access to a trunk port, they can craft frames that are tagged with VLAN IDs to send traffic to different VLANs, effectively circumventing the network's security controls.

Other options present various types of network-related attacks but do not specifically pertain to VLAN-related vulnerabilities. Packet sniffing, for example, involves monitoring data packets as they traverse a network but does not leverage VLAN configurations. Phishing is predominantly a social engineering attack aimed at gathering sensitive information such as credentials, while a man-in-the-middle attack allows a third party to intercept and manipulate communication between two parties, which again does not directly involve VLAN exploits. Therefore, regarding VLAN-specific exploits, VLAN hopping is recognized as the attack type directly related to this context.